Dare to Dresden Blog Hopping Progressiveness

Hello there!  thanks for dancing along on the Dare to Dresden Blog Hop!

Sponsored by the perpetually inspiring Madame Samm and Cheerleader Extraordinaire Christine L of Quilt Monster in my Closet

This blog hop is a feast for the eyes!  Who knew a design like 'Dresden Plate' could have so much variety?  ...be so modern and fresh?  ...and be sew popular among quilters of all ages?

I have to confess, a friend of mine has an antique Dresden quilt that I have always admired made during the 30's - with those wonderful, cheerful colors we quilters know so well... unfortunately, I don't have a photo of it to share with you, but I did draw out a similar design in EQ7...

  the thing is... that classic Dresden quilt I crave also has a pieced border that involves lots of those little wedges in a scalloped effect.... and I still don't know enough about EQ7 to draw custom scalloped borders - so try to imagine this with a couple hundred little red segments going all around the edges!  Yup, some day I'll make that quilt.  Really I will... it's on my bucket list!

In the meantime, however, I can share this with you - although this quilt has had an interesting journey from my sewing room to many places and back again!

It all started with Flickr... a splinter group from Old Red Barn quilt-along called Around the Bend and Across the Pond joined forces to create progressive quilts - the kind where you make a block or a row and pass it along each month - each person adds to it and sends it along to the next person on the 'tour' until the 'finished' top comes home to the originator.

I joined the sub-splinter group - the "Free Form Robin: Be Free Bees"  yes there were so many who participated - we had to become TWO groups - the A's and the B's - who decided to proceed with very few 'rooles' (if any) and sent this off to the first unsuspecting victim er participant:  

I had made the Dresden block from a few sample strips just to 'test the waters' of a new template.  I liked it a lot, but had no idea what to do with it after it had lurked around my sewing room, on and off the design wall for almost a decade.  Sew, last January - a whole year ago - I packed it up with a siggie block, a journal and a few of the fabrics that I had intended to use with it...

...and kept my fingers crossed for about eight months!

I didn't have any rooles for my starter - just a few fabrics to inspire and a plea that no one would use ALL of these fabrics and not leave any for the next participating quilter!

My quilt top underwent many mysterious and marvelous journeys (with progress pics posted to Flickr, of course!) and returned to me in August 2012.  After debating with myself for several months about how to quilt it, this is what I did:

it is very closely quilted...

... with bright "orange glow" OMNI thread... by Superior - seriously, that's the name of the color!  ORANGE GLOW --- LOVE IT!!!!

And - I'm thrilled that another participant decided to add two MORE Dresden plates to the corners - still leaving me enough of my original fabrics to use for the binding!  All of the little siggie blocks are pieced into the back.  I feel sew fortunate -I love how this quilt turned out - I hope you do too!

Now, if you haven't already been there, be sure to visit the other bloggers today. 

Charlotte H @ “that Other Blog”

Clothes and Crafts (moved to 31st)

It Seams to be Sew

Merry Gay in Stitches

Water Penny

Granny Good Stuff (you are here!)

Under the Presser Foot

More Stars in Comanche

Sew Me Something Good

The Day Before This Day

Farm Road

Livin' Blue Quilter

I Piece 2 Mary
Kwilty Pleasures
Espritpatch
Nutz4Redwork

 

 

 

and the pics are all on Pinterest, too!